The Health and Allied Workers Indaba Trade Union (Haitu) has criticised Life Healthcare for allegedly depositing R112-million in government funds intended for drug rehabilitation patients into its bank accounts.
This follows media reports that the private hospital operator channelled the money straight into the company’s bank account.
Haitu general secretary Lerato Mthunzi said the union is not surprised by the allegations of corruption in the corporate sector.
Media reports of irregular transaction
“We are surprised as to why media houses are not calling this form of corruption what it is. It is theft, plain and simple. The private sector gets away with a lot of corruption, especially in the media,” said Mthunzi.
Life Healthcare is the owner of the Nkanyisa Recovery Centre. It is a non-profit organisation (NPO) that has received funding since 2016. The funding is under the provincial department’s substance abuse prevention and rehabilitation programme.
Mthunzi said they are not afraid to call out corruption in government and in the private healthcare sector.
“Life Healthcare is looting the state, and we must not be shy to call them out. And we demand that the state must not rely on the private sector for these services.
“We have capacity in the public sector. And these arrangements always open the door for looting of state coffers,” Mthunzi added.
Union wants state to stop using private sector
She further called out the Gauteng department of health for relying on private sector.
“We are rejecting the privatisation of security services. And this is because it has not resulted in safer working conditions for health workers.
“Our members are protected by security workers who have not been trained, they have no weapons to defend staff. And their employment contracts are abused by the private sector [personnell]. They… enrich themselves, but fail to provide a good service.”
The private sector, said Mthunzi, is not interested in providing quality healthcare services. They care only about making major profits.
“Haitu demands that the outcome of the investigation on Life Healthcare be made public. Those who are responsible for stealing from government coffers must be named and arrested. We demand the eradication of the private sector in offering services to the state that can be done internally.
Wants justice and arrest for culprits
“We want the state to be capacitated. This is so that the masses can easily and cheaply afford rehabilitation services for mentally and physically disabled patients.”
Life Healthcare has since issued a statement. In it, the company says they always operated and continue to operate with integrity and transparency. It stands by its continued commitment to ethical business practices, said the statement.
“We have requested the department to share the report with us. And we will comment, if necessary, once we have been able to review it.”
